FBI Ignored Apple Help To Unlock Texas Shooter’s iPhone

We all know very well that last year how the FBI and the Cupertino giant Apple engaged in a widely reported public relations battle over iPhone encryption. Now again the FBI has its hand on an iPhone that it needs to unlock, this time, iPhone came from a terrorist who was killed during an attack.

FBI Ignored Apple Help To Unlock Texas Shooter’s iPhone

The FBI and the tech giant Apple may be about to enter another political war around encrypting iPhones, this time because of the sniper who killed dozens of people in a Texas church.

In 2016, the tech giant Apple and the FBI were involved in a fierce war for the unlocking of the iPhone in the terrorist case at St. Bernard, in which Apple did not relent.

Last Tuesday, after the FBI struggled to unlock a smartphone, the tech giant Apple was ready to help if it was an iPhone.

The FBI replied that it did not need the assistance of the Cupertino company at that time. As it turned out, researchers at the FBI labs were trying to find other methods to access iPhone data, namely by storing it in iCloud or by attaching the smartphone to an external device. However, they realized that the process could take weeks.

The FBI should have asked for help sooner

The 48 hours that followed the Texas terrorist attack may have been critical to unlocking the sniper’s iPhone. New information, reported in the international press, shows that the FBI may have made a big mistake by not asking for help from Apple, barely got the iPhone.

This time interval was crucial because the Touch ID on iPhones stops working if the smartphone stays locked for more than 48 hours. In the hours after the attack, it was not clear whether the shooter was using the Touch ID or not, although more than 80% of iPhone users used it.

If the FBI had soon accepted Apple’s help, the Cupertino company’s engineers would have instructed the FBI to try to use the dead terrorist’s finger if the iPhone had not been shut down or restarted. However, it is uncertain whether this technique would work.

Some experts say it depends on the number of hours that have passed since the man died, while others say that such a procedure would not be possible, at all. Despite this, and according to the information that has circulated, in this case, would result.

So far, it is not known whether the FBI has asked the tech giant Apple to file data regarding the terrorist’s iCloud account, but if it receives an official request from the US court, the tech giant Apple is able to provide iCloud data authorities as well as tools to decipher everything. However, as happened at the beginning of last year with the case of St. Bernard.

If the FBI really cannot recover the data on its own, is it worth again to confront the tech giant Apple in yet another public political battle?

Still, since the latest clashes, the US Department of Justice has avoided public clashes with Apple and other technology companies about smartphone encryption.

So, what do you think about this? Simply share your views and thoughts in the comment section below.

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